


Preluding the cave   (or "a more personal touch")

by Keenir



Category: Norse Mythology, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, why the cave?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-15
Updated: 2013-07-15
Packaged: 2017-12-20 07:46:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/884770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I have raised up monsters and swatted down armies.  I have broken alliances and forged marriages," Loki said.  "And <i>this</i> is what gets me an eternal punishment??"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Preluding the cave   (or "a more personal touch")

**Author's Note:**

> If there was one thing in the Norse tales which confused me the most, it was the binding of Loki in that cave.

Sif found him standing at the edge of the rock, the one place in Asgard equidistant from both the Palace and from the Bifrost. "You're being quiet," she observed.

"Hmm," Loki said and that was all he said.

"You can still appeal the judgement. Odin has not made the decree final."

"Yet."

"Loki," Sif said, a great many things in her voice just then: things that had been buried between them, things which lay only veiled, and things which could be plucked from the space between them if only one would dare.

"You do not plead. I would not have you plead," Loki said. 

"Then go to Odin. Remind Him that it was He who instilled in you a sense of loyalty and to defend those you see need it."

"I did not see, Sif, that is it," Loki said. "I raised my voice against them more to be contrary than for purposes of justice."

"So they would have you go with her, because you were contrary?" Sif asked, the question as pointed as any Loki himself could have formed.

Loki smiled. "Do not think I have not raised that point already, though I appreciate your seconding the sentiment."

_We found her when we were children playing in the fields - Thor, Loki, and myself - and we brought her back to Asgard's halls. Odin permitted her to remain awake, conditional on a promise none of us were privy to hear._ "Then permit me to take your place," Sif said; as Loki was still facing away from her, she let her voice tell him that she would kneel before him while saying it, if he turned around.

"No," Loki said.

"You are by blood and oath the brother of -"

"Yes, I know, never presume I have forgotten," Loki snapped. A breath. As he spoke these next words, he turned to face her, to behold her, "My pardons, Lady Sif."

"I grant your pardon," Sif said. "Though you must permit me to be entombed in your stead. Asgard needs you more than it needs me."

"I have yet to see evidence backing that proof," he said with a smile. "You are just as important to Asgard, if not moreso. You, after all, have friends."

" _You_ are my friend, Loki Asgardson."

"My only friend, Sif Asgardottir," he said, returning to her the compliment of saying her familial loyalty was to Asgard on the whole. "One could live a rich and long life with but one friend. But should ill befall that friend, terrible and dangerous outcomes would pour forth."

"Are you saying I'm not dangerous?" Sif challenged him.

"Most certainly you can be and have been," Loki said, disputing the 'not dangerous'. "But all your friends will turn against me in anger for permitting you to go in my place. And I will be friendless, leaving me free to darken my mood and acidify my humor."

"You sound like you're _wanting_ to go to her," she said with narrowed eyes.

"Convincing myself," he corrected. 

"Then don't."

"I would sooner go in than have you go in. And not merely for your greater-than-Odin mercy."

"It was only hair," Sif said, trying to dismiss it. "You walked in on the tail end of an argument, and joined in because that is your nature, to partake."

"And it is my nature to be punished for when such partaking leads to foul tempers."

"Idunn and Freya would argue otherwise. Your work with Niorn brought a peace with the one Jotun that even Laufey couldn't rein in."

"Then imagine what glories will be wrought by -"

"You're not listening, Loki," Sif interupted. "Your glories are wrought by what you do to escape the vengeful. Would Asgard be more than a smoldering ruin if not for all you have done?"

Loki was silent for long minutes. Sif hoped that this meant he was changing his mind, and hoped he would fight it - _I'll fight by your side, Loki,_ she swore.

"You're right," Loki said at long last.

"I -"

"I have accomplished much in my time in the universe, and death seems to have no wish to take me yet or soon."

A bad feeling gripped Sif and held her tight.

"Every citizen of Asgard and all our vassals, dependancies, and vacation stops - they all hold to the view that it is what we accomplish that makes and breaks our names through eternity and beyond. It being no different for we who fight in and for Asgard itself, we all want to be remembered long after we are gone. We remember Bor, but not the ones who sat quietly and accepted all that came their way without quarrel. We remember the great Cow from which comes our lines."

Sif could not speak, did not trust herself to utter even if she could.

"I have raised up monsters and swatted down armies. I have broken alliances and forged marriages," Loki said. "And _this_ is what gets me an eternal punishment??"

_Disproportionate, some would say,_ Sif knew. But she also knew the logic of Odin's law.

Sigyn had been one of the greatest minds of the Jotun War. But she had overreached, some said. Others said she had attempted to overthrow Odin - or was it Mirmir? A few said she had built a World-killer more terrifying than anything the Bifrost could accomplish; you did not build a device to do something just once. As the War was all but won, Odin was merciful, and commanded her to sleep until royalty awoke her. And so, like an insect or some of Asgard's littler enemies, Sigyn did not move, did not think, did not live, did not grow for nearly a thousand years.

Sif knew that the weight and reason, the purpose of the sentence was not aimed at Loki; though she knew the mind could interpret things differently. _We woke her up. And by jumping into an argument, Loki must be punished with her. But not because of his crimes, but for hers. A personal punishment is the penalty: Sigyn must serve another for all the rest of time._ "Choosing you was not -"

"I defended her. My reason for doing so is immaterial," Loki said.

"You were trying to raise hackles, like you always have. Poor timing, for once," unable to avoid the temptation of adding those last two words.

Loki nodded.

_Oh for Mirmir's Well!_ "You'll get out, Loki. I'll see to it," Sif vowed. _Pray I don't have to become you in all but name, but if that's the only way..._ and drew breath, then exhaled in Loki's face so her warmth spread into his mouth and nose.

He in return shared his warmth, in thanks, gratitude, and friendship. "I will see you when I see you," he swore.

**Author's Note:**

> "One death is a tragedy. A million is a statistic."  
> -attributed to Joseph Stalin.


End file.
